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How I lost $107.13 and 6+ hours Of my life, but gained a great marketing lesson

by Art Peterson
30 replies
So, I decided to do a little marketing experiment.
Here is what I did
  1. selected a cpa zip submit offer (pays 1.20 per lead)
  2. created 500 half a page sized flyers on bright yellow paper
  3. placed flyers on cars condos and anything that wasn't moving
Here are my results after 9 days:

  1. 1 completed email zip submit that payed me 1.20
  2. It took me maybe 5 hours to place all the flyers
  3. Only got shooooed out of one walmart parking lot
Here are some pics of the flyer, cpa network tracking and a wee little pic of the receipt from fed ex kinkos where I made the flyers






So lets break it down:

  1. So 1.20/ 5 hours = 0.24 per hour
  2. cost of flyers 31.33
  3. time to set up site 1hour
  4. 5 hours of my time * $15/hr. = -$75
So what did I learn
  1. Sometimes things just don't work out the way you plan
  2. The condos I went to all had dish-network satellite dishes on the porches. (Maybe a dishnetwork offer might work it Pays like $325 per lead)
  3. if you don't try, you never learn
  4. Those 60 year old rent a cops at walmart run alot faster than you think :p
Marketing is all about testing

So here is the real reason for opening myself up for ridicule-This Question:

How would you take online offers and bring them offline?

Any one with real world results out there? Please leave a commment
#flyers #gained #great #hours #lesson #life #lost #marketing #offline advertising
  • Profile picture of the author Caleb Spilchen
    Hmm.. I Would be interested to see the results
    with a shorter url or something. I think that the
    one that you used, looks too long, and would be
    a pain to put in.

    It's weird that you got so much traffic, but so little
    conversions

    Caleb
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    • Profile picture of the author Art Peterson
      Originally Posted by Caleb Spilchen View Post

      Hmm.. I Would be interested to see the results
      with a shorter url or something. I think that the
      one that you used, looks too long, and would be
      a pain to put in.

      It's weird that you got so much traffic, but so little
      conversions

      Caleb

      shorter url-- Check... I will try that

      yeah so here is the conversion breakdown:
      1. 500 flyers
      2. 23 clicks to offer -- %4.6 conversion rate flyer to offer. sounds like you think this is ok
      3. 1 zip submit -- %4.34 conversion rate offer to email submit (maybe I need to find a better converting landing page)

      %0.2 conversion flyer to email submit (I always hear %1 is what the big direct response mailers look for. they probably have a great back end funnel though)

      That works out to 0.002 cents per flyer I put out there

      guess you have to start somewhere right?

      Does this sound inline with other conversion rates?
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      • Profile picture of the author ShaunAllen
        I gave you a "thanks" for having the work ethic to go out and test something to that magnitude. If you're willing to work that hard you'll definitely succeed online if you haven't already.
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  • Profile picture of the author Eager2SEO
    Just my 2cents...


    I heard people doing well with an idea like that if you can get people who are near a computer - Internet Cafe, computer lab, etc. I never tried it though.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Brian
    Try again using a short / easy to remember URL like freeburgers.xxx or something.
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  • Profile picture of the author profitsforall
    Hmmn - did you try putting these on cars in burger king/mcdonalds car parks.
    Guess it might not be allowed in the terms. However i think you would be targetting folks that definitely eat burgers
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  • Profile picture of the author JD Nunes
    "Those 60 year old rent a cops at walmart run alot faster than you think" HAHAHA! Funniest thing I've read in a while. Next time, you should utilize more strategic placement of fliers. There are many ebooks out there that show ways to do it. Some of them have a disclaimer saying they're not sure if it's legal or not, though. Anyway, lessons are important, as long as you don't repeat mistakes. I've lost thousands but then made thousands by learning from my mistakes.
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    • Profile picture of the author CityTiger
      I dont think the idea is bad as such just the execution that was a little lacking.

      Firstly I think you need a better flyer....one that doesnt just take a screenshot of an email capture but one that explains things and makes the desired action VERY clear. Keep it short and simple but make sure you also provide enough information - I think that leaflet was just too vague about what was on offer and how to claim the offer.

      Then I would also agree with the other comments about the length of the URL needing to be shorter and making sure you target areas the end customer is likely to be.
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  • Profile picture of the author richard_s_smith
    art, u took action which is more than what 75% of people will do, good for u, my .02 would be to use an sms shortcode or 2d barcode on your flyer, you could even use your vehicle and get the barcode and/or shortcode emblazoned, you can embed ur url in the shortcode and barcode
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  • Profile picture of the author TruisticMedia
    What CPA network were you trying it with?

    I've seen a lot of threads about mixing CPA and offline like this, and I've always wondered about trying it. Props to you for going for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author paulie888
    Having a sub-URL probably made many people think twice about going to the site. I feel like you have to make it as easy as possible for them to do it - after all, an additional $10 domain expense is nothing in comparison to the cost of your flyer and the $5 hours of your time, right?

    Next time you try an experiment like that, please get a dedicated domain for it first. In addition to that, I'd try targeting the offer a little. If I were using a Burger King zip submit, I'd go to restaurant and fast food establishment parking lots and place flyers on all the cars I could find in the immediate area!

    Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author InternetSuccess001
    Two things I think hurt your conversions:

    1. Sub-Url. Looks like an affiliate promo, etc.
    2. Your actual website "http://mrlasvegasdeals.com/". Looks like a "scam" because it is a basic bare-bones wordpress site -- not only with no content -- but there are php errors that pop up as soon as I visit it.

    If it was me, and I actually visited it, I would be a bit suspicious.

    Also I agree with Paulie -- you'd probably have a much better conversion rate if you went to Burger King as opposed to Walmart.

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author Westin Thompson
    You're taking action and that's one of the most important things you can do. I agree that a short and easy to remember url is HUGE. Also why not try and mix it up a little bit? Fliers for health type products outside your local gym. Maybe swing by a local highschool or college and pass out offers for free ipads / iphones. Granted they're probably all out on break right now. Though, you can kind of see where I'm going with this, right? Plenty of methods you can use to combine both offline and online marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sardent
    The other thing to remember is that in the US, depending on local laws, you may be committing a crime which could be quite pricey to make go away. Many counties and cities have laws against it, or require a special permit to market this way.
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    • Profile picture of the author Art Peterson
      Originally Posted by Sardent View Post

      The other thing to remember is that in the US, depending on local laws, you may be committing a crime which could be quite pricey to make go away. Many counties and cities have laws against it, or require a special permit to market this way.

      I totally agree with you on that. I would not advise anyone to market like this.

      I just wanted to see what the results would be from this little test.
      I don't plan on making this part of any marketing strategy.
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      • Profile picture of the author theemperor
        I'd say flipping the burgers is more profitable

        But well done for trying ... maybe it is just too convoluted for most people. Busy people.
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  • Profile picture of the author abnation
    Nice little experiment... Ultimately though, you could've achieved a WAAAAAY better result online without all the time investment.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vulk
    I have to agree with everyone else on here, a shorter url would of been better...
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    Yep, have to echo everyone else on the URL. That was the first thing I noticed, I just thought, no way am I typing all that in!
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  • Profile picture of the author IMmoneydeals
    I've done a bit of offline marketing, and 4.6% from the flyer to the site seems pretty good - especially considering the things people have already pointed out (URL, Walmart vs BK, look of the flyer).

    I would think the conversion rate would go up pretty significantly if you fixed those 3 things...
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  • Profile picture of the author Margo Tuul
    Maybe next time you should market close to Burger King and not in Walmart car park. I did something similar with 1 affiliate offer. Niche was fitness and i did it in my local gyms. Sales were flying in. I think i got close to $3k in 1 day.

    Your domain name is also bit weird. Las Vegas and Burger King? Why you didn't market close to Burger King, or even from of the Burger King. Maybe even ask them, to get your flyer up there. Or, try McDonalds . Market where's your market hangs out...
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    • Profile picture of the author Art Peterson
      Originally Posted by Margo Tuul View Post

      Maybe next time you should market close to Burger King and not in Walmart car park. I did something similar with 1 affiliate offer. Niche was fitness and i did it in my local gyms. Sales were flying in. I think i got close to $3k in 1 day.

      Your domain name is also bit weird. Las Vegas and Burger King? Why you didn't market close to Burger King, or even from of the Burger King. Maybe even ask them, to get your flyer up there. Or, try McDonalds . Market where's your market hangs out...

      Yeah the domain is kind of weird.
      I live in vegas and that's where I plan on using the website.
      I will drive local consumers to local businesses.

      I will target traffic more with my next marketing experiment:rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author cooler1
    I don't think the sub url helped but you probably wouldn't have got any more conversions even without it as if people want the offer they'll be prepared to type in the url.

    Im doing offline flyer marketing at the moment in colleges by outsourcing it. Ive outsourced it to 3 seperate colleges and not had any conversions. Im not using a sub url either, it's a .com domain. The flyer is well designed also and explains what is required.

    Ive heard success stories about offline marketing so it does work but it must come down to finding the right places and the right offer.
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  • Profile picture of the author mookinman
    Obviously everybody's mentioned that the URL could be better... also try using video testimonials on the squeeze page.
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  • Profile picture of the author LB
    Just think...this method has been pushed by probably 5 separate WSOs over the last month or so...aren't you supposed to be making $500 per day by now doing this?

    -_-
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  • Profile picture of the author mandark
    I agree with the targeting traffic stuff - it's super important that you get the right audience - but just curious, why do you want to take your online advertising offline? Is that ever more profitable than doing all the regular stuff (article marketing, etcetc)?
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  • Profile picture of the author miklanderson2
    Interesting experiment. There are a few lessons to be learned from it. It's already been said, but I think that shortening the URL to something people would more easily remember might help a little. Flyers get lost or left in the car, and the URL you used isn't something people are going to remember when they sit down at their computer. Use something catchy that will stick in people's heads.
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  • Profile picture of the author CrhisD
    Originally Posted by Art Peterson View Post

    So, I decided to do a little marketing experiment.
    Here is what I did
    1. selected a cpa zip submit offer (pays 1.20 per lead)
    2. created 500 half a page sized flyers on bright yellow paper
    3. placed flyers on cars condos and anything that wasn't moving
    Here are my results after 9 days:

    1. 1 completed email zip submit that payed me 1.20
    2. It took me maybe 5 hours to place all the flyers
    3. Only got shooooed out of one walmart parking lot
    Here are some pics of the flyer, cpa network tracking and a wee little pic of the receipt from fed ex kinkos where I made the flyers






    So lets break it down:

    1. So 1.20/ 5 hours = 0.24 per hour
    2. cost of flyers 31.33
    3. time to set up site 1hour
    4. 5 hours of my time * $15/hr. = -$75
    So what did I learn
    1. Sometimes things just don't work out the way you plan
    2. The condos I went to all had dish-network satellite dishes on the porches. (Maybe a dishnetwork offer might work it Pays like $325 per lead)
    3. if you don't try, you never learn
    4. Those 60 year old rent a cops at walmart run alot faster than you think :p
    Marketing is all about testing

    So here is the real reason for opening myself up for ridicule-This Question:

    How would you take online offers and bring them offline?

    Any one with real world results out there? Please leave a commment
    Here's how we got a 10% conversion rate for a friend's deli :

    1. Bought a .com domain

    2. Built a good website

    3. Printed out flyers -- no pictures just text. It had FREE LUNCH in bold on the top. And then the text went like " who says there's no free lunch? have lunch on us"

    and so on...

    Then we hung around a office buildings (note: around them, not in them) during lunchtime. I guess when people are hungry they are more receptive to food ads. These ads promised them lunch (from his deli of course) if they signed up. We also promised to deliver it to their offices.

    Then when the massive lunchtime exodus happened, we just stood around outside and delivered the flyers. In the meantime, the other guy was in the house making the lunches.

    The next day we delivered them, and we got our verified addresses (and repeat customers as well.)
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  • Profile picture of the author Cataclysm1987
    Haha. I tried this with a teeth whitening offer. Failed.

    Wish I had more than that to add but I don't. Flyers and direct linking are both pretty fail.
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  • Profile picture of the author kea55
    i think I tried doing something with flyers too with no results. Flyers I suppose are pretty old school and people are doing newer things now.
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